Hagbourne's History Curriculum

Intent - What Do We Aspire for Our Children?

Our Curriculum Intent for History

History fires pupils’ curiosity to ask questions and know more about Britain’s past and that of the wider world. At Hagbourne, we provide a history curriculum that has been carefully designed and sequenced to equip our children with a secure, coherent knowledge about British, local and world history. Curriculum content is knowledge, vocabulary and experience rich, delivered in a sequenced chronological order, allowing children to develop their understanding of abstract historical concepts as they move through school. Our curriculum reflects our locality and endeavours to ensure children are knowledgeable about their locality’s history and the changes it has seen. Our history curriculum promotes curiosity and a love for learning about the past. Through an enquiry-based approach, children are encouraged to ask and explore historically valid questions and report their findings by drawing on skills from across the curriculum. Alongside the development of substantive knowledge, children will develop their disciplinary skills as they learn the fundamental elements of what it is to be a historian. Children will study a range of cultures and historical perspectives enabling them to be respectful, tolerant and empathetic. Teaching should equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement.

Implementation - How Will We Deliver the Curriculum?

Knowledge at the Heart of the Curriculum

Our History curriculum aims to excite the children and allow them to develop their own skills as historians. Each unit in our overview is underpinned by rich, substantive knowledge and ambitious vocabulary, whilst also ensuring children are developing their disciplinary knowledge (historical skills). Each unit of work is planned carefully to ensure concepts are taught in optimal order to support children's understanding. As well as developing a breadth of historical knowledge, we want our children to become skilful historians. Each unit of work has an emphasis on historical enquiry where children investigate historical questions whilst also developing historical enquiries of their own. In addition to substantive and disciplinary knowledge, children will develop their experiential knowledge through regular references to timelines and how topics fit together as well as a hands-on approach involving different sources and artefacts; trips and theme days; museum workshops and outreach programmes as well as being given a chance to explore our local history so as to bring history alive to our young learners.

Provision for all

Our History Curriculum offers every pupil the opportunity to expand their Historical knowledge in an engaged and curious way. This is relevant to every pupil at our school and there are scaffolds in place to ensure pupils with SEN and/or disabilities explore the connections and cultural understanding that are embedded in our History Curriculum. These techniques are supported by guidance from NASEN and includes examples such as:

• Visual prompts

• Removing sections of overly superfluous language in lessons

• Key vocabulary is emphasised throughout the lesson in verbal and written format, e.g. always in bold or colourful font on slides.

• Starting off each lesson with a ‘hook’ - a question or image which inspires curiosity

• Pre-teaching; provide prompt questions to learners in advance of the lesson, modelled sentence starters including key words and historical facts.

‘Golden Threads’

Our curriculum is refined yearly, but it maintains a consistent knowledge base to ensure conceptual progression. We have identified a set of key historical concepts or ‘golden threads’, that children will repeatedly revisit throughout their time at Hagbourne. Our golden threads are: Conflict and exploration, Settlements, Beliefs, Culture and pastimes, Society, Chronology and Artefacts. Each unit will not include every 'thread', but over a year, children will visit each one more than once.

For example, in Year 3, children will encounter the concepts of beliefs, culture and pastimes, conflict and chronology when studying the Tudors. In Year 5, children will revisit the concepts of culture and pastimes, chronology and conflict as they explore how the Roman Empire changed the world.

Valuing Our Local Heritage

We believe strongly that children should have a rich understanding of their local heritage. This is why local history is woven into our history curriculum to ensure it is explicitly taught and that links with larger historical themes are made. 

For example, in Year 5, children learn about the military base, Vauxhall barracks, its purpose and historical significance and use it to answer enquiry questions related to the impact of WWI and WWII on the local area. In Year 1, children look at the inventor Jethro Tull who lived locally in Crowmarsh Gifford. In Year 6, children visit Didcot Railway Centre during their Victorian unit.

How can I support my child with History?

Look at events beyond their living memory

Talk to grandparents about their childhood and compare with their own experiences e.g. toys, cooking, school.

Research the local area

Go for a walk to the Victorian houses and compare with the houses in the Ladygrove estate or Hagbourne Village. This would support the Year 1 ‘Great Fire of London’ project and Year 6’s ‘Victorian’ project.

Visit the Didcot railway centre. Why was the railway so important to the growth of Dudcote village to present day Didcot, the commuter buzzing town of today.

Piece together why things have happened

Look at Didcot in the past e.g. photographs, old maps, newspaper, census. Discuss how it has changed

Discuss and explore History Together

We are extremely lucky to have local museums that you could visit with your child. Encourage them to talk about what they found out.

• Oxford University Museum of Natural History
• Ashmolean Museum has several exhibitions
• Oxford Castle
• Pitt Rivers Museum